Class 2
The Story of Psychology
Prologue, 1-10
I. What is Psychology?
a. Psychology’s Roots
i. Psychological Science is Born: When and how did psychological science
begin?
1. Aristotle
2. Wundt, 1879, Leipzig Germany
3. Structuralism
4. Functionalism
5. Gestalt
6. Behaviorism
7. Psychoanalysis
ii. Thinking About the Mind’s Structure
1. Structuralism, Titchener, 1892
2. Aimed to discover the structural elements of mind
3. Engage people in introspection (looking inward)
4. C.S. Lewis “There is one thing, and only one in the whole universe
which we know more about than we could learn from external
observation.” OURSELVES!
5. Weaknesses
a. Required smart, verbal people
b. Results unreliable
c. Self-reporting
iii. Thinking About the Mind’s Functions
1. Functionalism, William James
2. Assumes that thinking, like smelling, developed because it was
adaptive (contributed to survival)
3. Mary Whiton Calkins, student of James
4. Margaret Floy Washburn, The Animal Mind, first female Ph.D.
5. William James published first textbook of psychology in 1878,
Principles of Psychology
b. Psychological Science Develops: How did psychology continue to develop from
the 1920s to today?
i. Most of the first psychologists were also well trained in other primary
disciples (biology, physiology, medicine, etc.)
ii. From late 1800s to 1920s psychology was defined as “the science of
mental life”
iii. 1920s -1960s Jon B. Watson (behaviorism) rules
1. Defined psychology as the “scientific study of observable
behavior”
2. You can’t observe thoughts (therefore, not empirical) but you can
observe behavior (therefor thought to be more scientific)
iv. 1960s and on
1. Humanistic psychology
a. Carl Rogers
b. Abraham Maslow
c. Emphasized the current environmental influences on out
growth potential
d. Importance of having needs for love and acceptance
satisfied
v.
vi.
2. Cognitive psychology
a. Focused on importance of how our mind processes and
retains information
b. Cognitive neuroscience
Today we define psychology as “the science of behavior and mental
processes.”
1. Behavior: anything and organism does, any action we can observe
and record
Psychology is less of a finding and more of a way of asking and answering
questions
II. Contemporary Psychology
a. Psychology’s Biggest Question: What is psychology’s historic big issue?
i. Nature-nurture issue: relative contributions of biology and experience
1. Plato: character and intelligence are largely inherited and that
certain ideas are inborn
2. Aristotle: there is nothing in the mind that does not first come in
the form of the external world through the sense.
3. John Locke: rejected notion of inborn ideas, the mind is a blank
slate
4. Descartes: believes some ideas are innate
5. Darwin’s research provides support for Descartes (some ideas are
innate)
a. Natural selection: nature selects the traits that best enable
an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular
environment
b. Evolution is an important principle of modern psychology
ii. Nature-Nurture Questions
1. How are humans alike and diverse?
2. Are gender differences biological or social?
3. Is grammar mostly innate or formed y experience?
4. How are differences in intelligence and personality influence by
heredity and by environment?
5. How should we treat psychological disorders?
iii. Nurture works on what nature endows
b. Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis: What are psychology’s levels of
analysis and related perspectives?
i. Biopsychosocial
1. Biological
a. Natural selection of adaptive traits
b. Genetic predispositions responding to environment
c. Brain mechanisms
d. Hormonal influences
2. Psychological
a. Learned fears and other learned expectations
b. Emotional response
c. Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations
3. Socio-cultural
a. Presence of others
b. Cultural, societal, and family expectations
c. Peer and other group influences
d. Compelling models (such as media, school)